Greta Podleski, the recipe creator of the pair, admits the two have a "corny" sense of humour and that combined with a glass of wine, a brainstorming session leads to the word play. She says the books just wouldn't be the same without them.

“I do think people think we’re nuts,” she adds with a laugh.

But using humour to convey messages about good nutrition and healthy eating makes it easier to, well, digest.

"The goal was to make nutrition accessible and fun. People don’t think we're preaching about dieting," she says.

Despite the popularity of cookbooks, people are still eating out of packages and bags, she adds.

"We want to motivate people to take matters and platters into their hands and cook more."

Although named the Looneyspoons Collection, there is little overlap between this book and the original, which has now been taken out of print.

A lot has changed in the world of food and nutrition since the first book came out.

At that time, says Podleski, all fat was considered “evil,” so people were eating foods loaded with carbohydrates and sugars, while completely eliminating good fats like those from salmon, avocados and olive oil.

The sisters weren’t comfortable with those messages any more; the new book takes some of those old favourite recipes and modifies them to include better carbs and fats and less sodium.

Besides updated and revised versions of the classics, there are also myriad new recipes joining the mix.

They printed off 75,000 copies of the book in the first run — an incredible amount in a country where 10,000 is a bestseller — and they’re already gone.

Stores are well stocked, but the warehouse is empty.

“It caught us off guard,” Podleski says. “We thought they’d have them until Christmas.”

The sisters have rushed back to print, ordering another 75,000.

“We’re lucky if that gets us to the end of the year, but we may be good.”

It’s just one of the things they have to deal with as self-publishers of their books.

And it’s also a far cry from their humble beginnings, when they sold many of their possessions just to put Looneyspoons in print after a series of publishing houses rejected their book.

Fifteen years and more than two million cookbooks (across their three titles: Looneyspoons, Crazy Plates and Eat, Shrink and Be Merry) later, the Podleski sisters have innumerable fans, a television show under their belts and a selection of soups, sausages and burgers that sell at some Costco locations.

All that success, though, has not changed the sisters, who continue to formulate, shop for, cook and test recipes, do dishes, their own public relations and book signings.

Trim pork of all visible fat. Place pork in a large, heavy-duty, resealable plastic bag. Whisk together all remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Pour over pork in bag. Seal bag and allow pork to marinate in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Transfer pork and marinade to a small roasting pan or baking dish. Roast, uncovered, at 350°F (180°C) for 40 minutes. Pork should be slightly pink in middle.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.